The Tattooed Tribes (29 page)

“
I just …”

“
Be silent, woman of no worth,” the little
tribal maiden said.

Even in the
presence of so much danger the good doctor could not restrain
herself. “I have told you before, Brigedh, women should not be
bought or sold like cattle.”

The little
girl gave her a look of withering scorn and went on ahead to help
Lucien with Jon.

“
Leave her alone,” Stacey snapped,
struggling to support her father. “You’ve no idea what you are
talking about.”

Dr Riddett
might have argued, but up ahead Vlic seemed to disappear before her
eyes. “Where did he …”

“
We need to hide,” Stacey told her. “So
shut up and do as you’re told.”

With this she
went to help Lucien lower Brigedh over the edge of the ridge and
down to where Vlic waited under the leaf canopy.

“
You next,” he told Stacey. “Then your
father.”

“
I …” Dr Riddett began, a note of panic in
her voice.

“
You’re after,” Lucien reassured her with a
curl of his lip. “I need you to help me with Stacey’s dad. And it
needs all of you down there to hold Jon.”

It took a
while to get Eric Wainwright down, he groaned with pain as they
lowered him and Lucien gave a hiss of annoyance when he saw there
was blood on the ground where he had lain. He covered it as best he
could, sweeping leaf debris over it to disguise the spot.

Dr Riddett
proved as difficult to get down the slope; she was scared and near
panic. Stacey deliberately allowing her to land badly did not help
either.

She flushed
guiltily when Lucien’s head appeared and he snapped, “Pack it
in.”

Slowly and
with great difficulty Jon was passed to the waiting arms. It must
have been agony for him, but he never allowed as much as a hiss of
pain to escape his lips. Lucien was so proud of him; he thought his
chest would explode.

When he joined
them behind the curtain of foliage, he was surprised to find there
was more room than he thought there would be. Brigedh wriggled
between the columns of thick tree roots and made herself
comfortable in the space behind. Stacey sliced away some of the
smaller stuff and managed to get her father wedged near the
back.

Dr Riddett
found a gap as well, so Lucien and Vlic were able to lay Jon flat
on the narrow shelf.

“
What hurts?” Lucien asked him.

“
Most of me,” Jon croaked back. “Is there
water?”

Lucien held a
canteen to his lips and he sucked it down quickly.

“
Go easy,” Lucien warned. “We don’t have a
huge amount.” He turned to the others. “Everyone take a drink, but
remember we don’t know how long it has to last. And keep the noise
down.”

With that he
passed the canteen to Brigedh, who drank and handed it to Dr
Riddett.

Jon gestured
Lucien to come closer. “Tell me your plan.”

“
It’s not a great one,” Lucien admitted.
“We’re relying on Vlic’s father turning up sooner rather than
later.”

“
Food?”

“
None, but we filled the canteens. And
we’ve got plenty of ammo.”

“
Defensible position?”

“
Yes, I think so.” Lucien said. “First
they’ll have to find us, then the only way here is to climb down
and they will be in direct line of fire as they come.”

“
They’ll probably find you quickly,” Jon
said. “You’ll have left a lot of sign.”

Lucien nodded.
“Couldn’t be helped, but we are in a good position and better off
than we would be on open ground.”

Jon seemed to
have slipped back into the pain-wracked haze he had been in
earlier, but he roused at this.

“
When they come, they will come hard,” he
said. “I think you may find yourself in that place I didn’t want
you to be in for a long while.”

Lucien frowned
at this and then light dawned. “The one where I have to kill
someone?” he said, grimly.

Jon
nodded.

“
Don’t worry about it. After what they’ve
done, it isn’t going to be a problem.”

He tucked his
pack under Jon’s head and covered him with a blanket.

“
Try and sleep,” he said and then gathered
Stacey and Vlic for a consultation, moving to the space near the
end of the shelf.

“
We need …”Lucien began, but was
interrupted by Dr Riddett.

“
Who are you?” she asked. “I recognised
Stacey, but who are the rest of you?”

All three
glared at her, but there was no confrontation in her face, merely
concern born of gnawing fear. And perhaps something more, the deep
need to be a part of a group, not an outsider.

Lucien would
have been short with her, but Vlic had been bred to a higher
standard of manners.

“
I am Vlic
cheed
Feilda,” he said. “The beaten man is Harabin
dheillwer
of The Tribal Liaison
Guild.”

“
And I’m his apprentice, Lucien
Devlin.”

He watched her
face carefully for reaction to his surname, but there was none.
However, Eric Wainwright, resting against his daughter’s shoulder,
gave a small start.

Lucien turned
to him. “Is he out there somewhere?”

“
Who?” Wainwright asked, keeping his face
completely neutral.

“
Don’t fuck me about,” Lucien replied. “I’m
not in the mood.”

Feeling the
pressure from his daughter’s hand Wainwright sighed.

“
Not to my knowledge,” he said. “He’s not
involved; all he did was put me in touch with Frain, but I had no
idea what that man had in mind. I wanted to help Evandne prove she
was right about tribal practises.”

“
So you could use it to destroy a way of
life?”

Even wounded
and in pain he managed to look pompous. “To stop some practices …”
he began.

“
Shut up, Eric,” Dr Riddett said. “Whether
I’m right or wrong, we’re in trouble and this is no time for a
discussion on culture.” She leaned over to Lucien. “I’m no good
with a bow, but I can handle a rifle.”

Lucien was
reluctant to allow her a weapon. “I don’t know whose side you’re
on.”

“
I might not agree with the TLG,” she
replied, “but I’ll defend myself from those savages.”

Brigedh turned
on her. “You didn’t think they were savages when they were killing
my mummy and daddy,” she lashed out.

“
I never knew about that,” she protested.
“If I had …”

“
Brigedh,” Eric broke in. “We didn’t know.
I promise you, we didn’t. I’d never have allowed it, you must
realise that.”

The little
girl dashed her hand over her eyes. “You’ve not listened to
anything I’ve told you.”

There was more
she would have liked to have said, but Wainwright gave a sharp
intake of breath and turned an odd colour. Stacey pulled a small
but efficient first aid kit from her pack and went to work on his
wound. She sprayed sealer over the hole, rebound it and then jabbed
a needle full of something in his arm.

She turned to
Jon slipping in and out of consciousness and jabbed him as
well.

“
I’ve got enough for another shot each,”
she told Lucien.

“
If you let me have one of the rifles we
can increase our fire power,” Dr Riddett said. “I’m fairly sure …
Vlic? ... is as good with a bow as he is with a rifle.”

Lucien made a
decision.

“
Vlic, what are you better with, a bow or a
rifle?”

Vlic looked
regretfully at Jon’s weapon. “A bow,” he admitted and without
comment or argument handed the rifle to Dr Riddett.

She looked
both relieved and surprised.

“
I’ll prove you can trust me,” she
promised.

“
You do that,” Lucien replied, grimly. “Now
we need to keep quiet; dawn is here.”

The two boys
set to guard each end of the ledge, their weapons ready, and they
began the waiting.

Chapter
19

The sun rose
higher as the morning progressed, but still there were no sounds to
indicate a search was underway. It grew warm under the canopy of
vegetation, for it stopped any breeze that might have cooled the
air around them.

Sweat
attracted small biting flies that crawled down necks and up
sleeves.

Wainwright had
dropped into state of semi-slumber. He was aware of his
surroundings and of his daughter, but he was too weak to move.

Jon was
already feverish, slipping into and out of rational thought, one
minute rejecting the water Stacey tried to give him, the next
drinking it eagerly.

“
He’s hurt somewhere inside,” she told an
increasingly worried Lucien.

Anxious as he
was, he had other things to concern him as well. He had expected
the pursuit to begin soon after dawn and was painfully aware of how
much evidence of their flight and trail they had left.

“
Why did we leave the canoes?” Dr Riddett
asked, just as Lucien began to wonder if Jon might not have been
right on the subject.

“
The stream is choked with reed,” Brigedh
told her. “When they brought me here, they spent more time cutting
than paddling. It will have grown back by now. If we’d gone that
way, they could’ve come at us from both banks.”

Dr Riddett
considered this. “Instead we’re trapped under a tree, gods help
us,” she said with a small cynical laugh. “In fact, gods are
probably our only hope.”

With that she
retired to her watch point at one end of the shelf.

“
Stupid bitch,” Lucien muttered, but the
idea took a hold. “Do you have a god to pray to?” he asked
Vlic.

Vlic looked
awkward and it was Brigedh who replied, “He can’t tell you, you
aren’t one of The People. Neither can I, but I’ll ask for some
help.”

She pulled a
length of red cord from a deep pocket in her skirt and began to
knot it in a complex series of patterns. Stacey caught the flash of
red and to Lucien’s amazement also produced scarlet twine and began
to make knots in it.

“
Hell, I’ve got a lot to learn,” Lucien
muttered to himself, and went to check on Jon. “You’d better get
well,” he whispered. “I need you.”

Jon was
apparently in one of his lucid phases, because he gripped Lucien’s
hand and said, “Doing my best, son.”

The morning
was well advanced when there was a sound in the distance. At first
Lucien thought it was drums, but the tone was wrong.

“
Thank you!” Brigedh said, apparently to
no-one. “Listen!”

The sound came
again.

“
Thunder!” Vlic exclaimed.

“
Rain!” Lucien added. “It’ll wash away any
sign.”

“
It’ll also wake them up,” Stacey pointed
out.

“
And delay my father,” Vlic
added.

The
overhanging branches and vines provided them with excellent
shelter, but some of the downpour found the odd hole and there was
the occasional puddle on their ledge. The air was thick with water
and soon they were all damp, their clothes sticking to them
unpleasantly- the heat had only reduced a little.

Vlic pulled a
long face as his bow string became softer, but the rifles and the
ammunition remained safe, dry and useable, and they were able to
drain the canteens dry and refill them.

Time dragged
on, but apparently whoever was in charge back at the camp was
having difficulty raising enthusiasm for a hunt in men with
monumental hangovers. Around mid-afternoon Vlic caught Lucien’s arm
and pointed to the valley floor.

A party of
three tried to make their way along the boggy river bottom. They
stopped a couple of times to argue over something and eventually
passed the hiding place and on out of sight.

Dr Riddett
drew breath to say something, but Brigedh put her hand firmly over
her mouth and above them on the ridge they heard the sound of
voices.

At first they
were too far away to make out words. The listeners strained every
ear for a hint of where the speakers were, and were nearly startled
into exclamation when a voice right above them said, “Wait. I need
to piss.”

A jet of
steaming liquid arched out over their roof down to the valley
floor.

“
Are you sure none of the men can find a
trace of sign?” Frain said.

“
Not after they left the clearing,” Eldrien
replied. “There were three of them, maybe four, Douwe wasn’t
sure.”

“
Is he your best tracker?”

“
No, that would be Tiede.”

The stream of
urine stopped. “Then get Tiede looking!”

“
I can’t. He got a knife in the guts last
night.”

Tim Frain
added more of his bodily fluids to the surroundings by spitting
copiously over the ridge.

“
I brought enough dust for
everyone.”

“
There is never enough dust, Frain
sakeman.
”

“
Well, you won’t be getting more,” Frain
replied. “Not unless you find Harabin and whoever got him
out.”

There was a
long silence at this, long enough for the listeners to begin to
think about relaxing, but then Eldrien spoke again.

“
You would do well to remember,
Frain
sakeman
, that
you are not the only supplier of dust.”

“
Are you threatening me?”